rate of language change

[Miguel Carrasquer Vidal]

"Peter &/or Graham" <petegray at btinternet.com> wrote:

>[..] Examples were such things as
>"Marie, le livre, elle l'a lu."

>(c) I happened to met it in Italian this very morning on the train, in a
>slush novel - though I haven't seen it mentioned in grammar books for that
>language.  Anyone know how common it is in Italian?   And does it occur in
>Spanish?   German eschews it.

Marma, el libro, lo ha leido.  Hmmm, not sure I've ever said
that, but I daren't say it's ungrammatical.  A much more common
(though still "marked") construction would be: "Marma lo ha
leido, el libro".

[ Moderator's comment:
  Since this posting came in as "8-bit", I believe that the name "Marma" above
  should be read "Mari'a", to parallel the French example.
  --rma (living in a 7-bit universe) ]

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv at wxs.nl
Amsterdam